Mick McCarthy admits his former club Sunderland will take some stopping in the Championship promotion chase.

The Wearsiders are in action this evening when they take on Southampton at St Mary's (ko 5.15pm) and will be full of confidence after Saturday's vital 2-1 home win over McCarthy's Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Roy Keane's men are unbeaten in the Coca-Cola Championship this year and were this morning only a point behind leaders Derby, who were set to host Coventry today.

"Sunderland will take some stopping because Roy has brought in some very good players," admitted McCarthy, the former Stadium of Light manager who famously clashed with Keane at the 2002 World Cup when with Ireland.

"Jonny Evans looks a superb player and Nyron Nosworthy was outstanding, although I don't remember him ever wanting to play centre-back for me!

"But I've enjoyed being back because I've got a lot of happy memories from the place," added McCarthy, whose stint on Wearside included two relegations and a Championship title win.

"It was always going to be the toughest task of the weekend for anyone of the top six to eight sides, but I thought we acquitted ourselves well."

McCarthy was at the helm when Sunderland were in the top flight last season and Keane is masterminding a return in his rookie year as a manager, victory over Wolves coming courtesy of goals by Daryl Murphy and Ross Wallace before Andy Keogh pulled one back.

Keane admitted it was a near-perfect day for his side. The Wearsiders' biggest crowd of the season - 40,748 - riotously cheered as Sunderland registered their 12th win from 15 unbeaten games since the turn of the year.

"It was a good result for us and a good performance, plus the weather was nice!," said Keane.

"Wolves had a right go at us as you would expect, and we had injured players coming back in, so that's another massive plus.

"It's nice to have over 40,000 and the players certainly appreciate the support we've had.

"The players keep giving me their all and since Christmas they've been superb. I feel very lucky to be working with them."

Keane would deny it but he will relish the victory unlike any other given that it came against a man with whom he fell out with in such bitter circumstances five years ago.

The pair officially ended one of the most famous and long-standing feuds in football at Molineux in November with a pre-match handshake prior to the sides' 1-1 draw.

The hostility dates back to Keane's scathing criticism of McCarthy at a training camp in Saipan when they were, respectively, captain and manager of the Republic of Ireland. There were no handshakes or peace gestures this time around, but Keane added: "I'll have a drink with Mick in the next 10 minutes, just like I would with any manager, and we'll move on."

West Brom's promotion hopes suffered a setback when they lost 3-1 at home to Stoke.

"We've got to take it on the chin and dust ourselves down," said West Brom boss and former Boro skipper Tony Mowbray.

Leeds gave themselves a glimmer of hope of avoiding relegation by coming from behind to beat Plymouth 2-1 on Saturday.